Leading Effectively Blog

A Discussion on Leading Like a Kennedy

My recent post about the legacy of Ted Kennedy stirred up an interesting discussion in CCL's LinkedIn Group. Our blog posts are fed in as News items for the group to read and discuss.  If you haven't joined us there yet, we'd love to have you in the group.

Two of the main ideas in the discussion are 1) can someone reinvent themselves? and 2) how “perfect” do role models need to be?

Here's what I have been thinking.

I have witnessed high-impact experiences prompt significant changes in people's lives; personal transformations. People can and do make big changes in themselves. Not everyone experiences it, but some people do have a moment (or a time) when they decide – I’m not the person I want to be or that I could be.

What's really interesting to me is how complex personal transformation is and how difficult it can be to foster. I usually think of things like a serious illness, the death of a loved one, or some other major event as a potential prompt. One discussant recommended the book The 12 Bad Habits That Hold Good People Back by Waldroop and Butler as a place to read more about personal transformations; I haven't read it but it looks fairly well rated by other readers. Another goes so far as to say “A leader who has been through this comes out a better person and a better leader.” While facing significant challenge is not my idea of a good time, it can be one of the best teachers we have.

Regarding the second idea, all leaders have flaws and experience failure. Having children and entering public office are two surefire ways to find out about your flaws and taking risks is bound to lead to failure at least some of the time. But without a little risk nothing changes - which means nothing gets better.

On a side note, if someone learns from a risk gone wrong, I'm not sure we should refer to it as failure, maybe a mistake.

Anyway, it's difficult to know where to draw the line in terms of when flaws are to great or mistakes too frequent or severe for someone to be an effective leader - and we all have different ideas about how and what we value as the "good" and how we weigh that against the "bad." I guess that's part of what makes leadership so interesting. In one context a leader who is a philanderer is no big deal, in another, it is the leader’s undoing.

I’d be interested to hear what people think are the flaws or mistakes that can revoke a leader’s “role model” status.  What do you think?

An Insider's View of Harvard B School

 

I am a sucker for any "Drop Everything and Pursue My Dream" story.  That's why I was interested in reading Philip Delves Broughton's book about leaving a successful career in journalism to attend Harvard Business School. Here’s a guy (as John Madden would say) who was Paris bureau chief for the Times of London, married with a one year old son, who chucked it all for a cramped apartment in Cambridge and whopping student loans.  The book is his engaging account of his two years at HBS.  It reminded me of  Scott Turow’s enjoyable 1977 book, One L.,  in which he describes his first year at Harvard Law School.  Both capture the essence of Harvard’s mystique as well as laying bare some of its problems.

There is no question that Broughton respects the Harvard Business School, his professors, and his fellow students by the end of his two years, but the upshot is that HBS isn’t perfect.  My favorite parts of the book are those in which he exposes the seamy side of things—fueled by equally hyped-up doses of insecurity and ambition in his fellow students.  A bit of a fish out of water, he doesn’t fit into their cliques of heavy drinkers, former military officers, or unabashed salary seekers.

Ahead of the Curve was a particularly interesting read for me in view of the recent economic meltdown and the retrospective skewering of corporate leaders that seems to be today’s national pastime.  Many of these CEOs come to speak at HBS while he is there, and Broughton eagerly attends these sessions to see for himself what these captains of industry are like in the flesh.  He comes away impressed by their drive and accomplishments but troubled by the consistent trend he sees of broken marriages and troubled family lives.  Just one example he cites is of a Goldman Sachs exec who delivered a session on values and leadership, then confesses that he has four ex-wives.

The reaction at Harvard to Broughton's book has been all across the board based on responses in The Harbus, an independent newspaper for HBS students.  Some of the responses seem to fit into this category: "I didn't have the same experience or opinion of HBS, but maybe there's something to be learned from the book."  The official response as delivered by Carl Kester, Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs, is a bit, well, uptight, and overly defensive.  It is worth reading, in my opinion, as an example of how not to react to criticism--attempting to pick apart errors of fact one by one and completely missing the the overall message of the book. (On the other hand, the lead paragraph is excellent.  He should have stopped there).

If you are looking for a tidy ending—sorry. While the majority of his fellow classmates seem content to line up in the cattle chute to lucrative banking or consulting positions--what he refers to as “MBA McJobs”, Broughton doesn’t follow suit. He makes a couple of seemingly half-hearted attempt to land one of these jobs but he just isn’t in to it. When you get to know Broughton through the book, the fact that the ending doesn’t tidily wrap up with him in his dream job is testimony that he is different from his classmates in just one more regard.   I did find this entry on his blog which provided me with a satisfactory postscript to the book.

Broughton was also kind enough to respond to my email inquiry in which I: 1. assured him I wasn't a Harvard administrator-stalker, and 2. asked him what he is doing for a living with his Harvard M.B.A.  He said that soon after publication of the book he returned to New York and worked on some business development projects for a variety of media and financial firms.  I was also happy to hear that he is still writing.   Last week I received an email from Broughton (sent to his distribution list) that says "I've just completed a thriller I always wanted to write and am now writing my next business-y book. It's about salespeople around the world - how come they can do what they do, when it's so hard for the rest of us?"

An Elaboration on Discernment for the President-Elect

My good friend Vidula Bal (at least I hope I'm still on that list) had some useful advice in this space for President-elect Obama. She seems to be a fan of surrounding oneself with smart people and then exercising discernment about what they have to tell you. It would probably be easier to take Vidula along to ride shotgun, as my experience suggests her BS detector is a finely tuned instrument with no lack of calibration opportunities.

That being said, I was interested in what discernment might look like and have started reflecting on some pieces of that puzzle. The question I started with was “who would I call discerning and what do they do that merits that term?” Here are two elements that rose from the mist early on. As predicted by Vidula, they all involve the way one uses one’s social context.

One aspect of discernment is the capacity to forsee the implications or consequences of choices one makes for others. This requires a broad acquaintance with and concern for people who are different from you and each other and a determination to eschew imperial ambitions. I'm reminded of a negative example I saw earlier today when I walked back from the beach to the coffee shop where my writing takes place. I saw a man and woman with two small boys, each about 3 years old. The boys were the typical tow-headed beach tots, each with a boogie-board in tow. My attention was drawn because the woman was unhappy with one of them who ignored his companion’s plea to stop running into him and she was grabbing him away. As they walked by me, I saw that each of the boys had large tattoos on his back and around one arm. While cute in that “my child is really my pet” kind of way, I couldn’t help wondering how happy these boys will be in a dozen years when they are wanting to join their own adolescent culture but they wear the parental “brand.” Cultural imperialism is no less coercive just because it is “counter-cultural” in the local context.

For our President, discernment means that rich or poor, native, early immigrant, or just-immigrated, male, female or whatever new gender we invent this week, all will be affected by your choices and forethought given to the impact on the rich diversity of this land will pay off.

Another element of discernment relates to the obligation and opportunity the President has to make meaning for the collective of the Nation. The care and feeding of the American soul is in his hands and if one does not see that there is such a (metaphorical) thing, how will one preserve it? Now that everyone is re-reading Team of Rivals, we may have a resurgence of awareness that reputation really is something important. Lincoln wanted, above all things, to be esteemed by his fellows. To him that meant that he would do the right thing and thereby preserve his name and the name of the Union. The world has chosen to suspend its judgment about the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave in hopes that we will, once again, stand for more than personal aggrandizement and greed. Discernment in this case means that the President and those who surround him recognize that every choice, every conversation (whether in public or in private) define the identity of this country: its soul. Our kryptonite has always been the fear that separates us into categories of race, wealth, culture, gender, and every other possible division. Since we seem to have elected a president from across the great divide, wouldn’t it be nice to become a whole nation?

Just a thought or two, Mr. President-elect. You’d still be better off putting Vidula in the Cabinet. How about Secretary of State?

Your basic presidential non-advisor,

Doug

Lessons From the Yellow Brick Road

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a book I used to read over again as a child.   As I recollect fondly about my three imaginary companions - Cowardly Lion, Tin Woodman and Scarecrow, it dawned on me that their adventures along the yellow brick road contains some endearing lessons on relationships and a leader's journey.

Cowardly Lion was on a journey in search of courage.  While, he finds himself intimidated by the fierce beasts of the forest, it was through moments when his companion's lives were endangered that he found courage to risk his own and and take a stand.  Tin Woodman was in search  of a heart and it was through the supportive relationships around him that brought out compassion, conviction, and a concern for others.   As in the words of a song "Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn't already have."  The adorable scarecrow was in doubt of his own intellect and it was through tribulations, not of his own, that he demonstrated remarkable insight and wisdom together with his friends.

Like Cowardly Lion, one may feel intimidated by stronger forces or negativity at the workplace.  Yet courage is found in standing up for one's companions and acting on behalf of those who may not be able to defend themselves.  Like Tin Woodman, leaders may feel that the demands of work have turned them into hard taskmasters.  Yet compassion can be found in relationships that draw out the positive rather than the negative.  Like the Scarecrow, we may feel that we're never smart enough for the task.  Yet wisdom is found when tested in challenging circumstances and developed in solving challenges together with others.

The journey of the yellow brick road may resonate with our own dilemmas and struggle as leaders.  The endearing lesson is how the journey is enriched with diverse travel companions.  Our ongoing research at CCL on how leaders in different parts of the world develop, reveals a salient truth to leader development - relationships play a critical role in supporting, provoking, and drawing out development.  It is through such relationships that one develops courage, compassion, and wisdom, even when the ideal seems to be far from reality.